[Ailist] Re: "Getting Ready" for AI/Gestalt Center Support Programs

[David J. Snider]

Howard

I love your story of the difference AI has made for you, your  
business partner, and your clients.  And I enjoy how you see those  
differences also through a MBTI lens.

As I reflect on your story, two themes come to mind.

One theme is the MBTI perspective that our environment has powerful  
effects on our ability and choice actually to "be" the type  
preference that is naturally ours.  I hear you saying AI has provided  
an environment, a culture, that is letting you and your business  
partner flourish in ways better than you had imagined possible.

The other theme that comes to mind is the freedom to be positive.  In  
the chapter "Why Appreciative Inquiry Works" in The Power of  
Appreciative Inquiry Diana Whitney & Amanda Trosten-Bloom write that  
there are "at least six conditions for the liberation of power."   
They name these six conditions the freedoms (1) to be known in  
relationship, (2) to be heard, (3) to dream in community, (4) to  
choose to contribute, (5) to act with support, and (6) to be  
positive.  They describe how Appreciative Inquiry contributes to each  
of these conditions that liberates our power.

I hear your report as a description of your experience, your business  
partner's and your clients' experiences of the freedom to be  
positive.  When I read about this freedom initially in The Power of  
Appreciative Inquiry, I immediately felt Diana and Amanda were  
describing a great gift Appreciative Inquiry has presented to me.   
For decades I had honed my intellectual, critical (often negative)  
skills, seeing those as the paths to competence and excellence.  AI  
presented me with another vision of competence and excellence.

One of the things I realized as I read their description of how AI  
gives us the freedom to be positive is that this freedom was a  
presence I had been missing and had been longing for - without quite  
knowing I was longing for it.  Your story reminds me of how important  
that part of AI is to me.  Your story also reminds me of the  
analytical clarity I find useful in the MBTI's distinction between  
Thinking and Feeling functions.  AI is helping me empower and develop  
my Feeling function (caring, being more concerned with people than  
simply staying with my Thinking function (logic and tasks of the  
situation).

I love hearing how you and your partner are having experiences that  
feel similarly empowering.  Thanks for letting us hear your story.

Best to you,

David

David J. Snider, Ph.D.
David Snider Associates
   Consultants On Personal and
   Organizational Development
17214 Wildemere
Detroit, MI 48221
O: 313 342 8060
Fax: 313 342 8650
davidsnider at mindspring.com



On Mar 14, 2007, at 8:42 AM, Howard Ditkoff wrote:

> In response to David's quote:
>
> "Your experience fits my conviction and experience that we do  
> indeed have
> powerful ability to move beyond the selves that we have lived for  
> years."
>
> David,
>
> . . . .
>
> I have used AI with tremendous success both with myself and my  
> business
> partner, and with many of our clients, in helping them recover  
> parts of this
> "lost self". And when those parts are recovered, we can see remarkable
> shifts in the type that they now feel like inside. My partner and  
> I, for
> instance, both started off as strong INTJ's. Personally, my F has  
> flourished
> to the point where I struggle to know whether I am really an INTJ  
> or INFJ.
> Frankly, I think the truth is I'm a blend right between them -  
> which is
> actually a perfect explanation for why I love the work I do.
>
> My partner on the other hand has found a strong ISFP component. He  
> was a
> born musician, but was pushed strongly out of that field into more  
> rigorous
> analytical fields. As we used Appreciative Inquiry for personal  
> development,
> he regained a lot of his "lost self" and is feeling more whole.
>
> I have since seen much of the same with many clients. In fact, this  
> is very
> much built into the particular approach to AI that I use with personal
> development clients.
>
> Best,
> Howard Ditkoff
> Emergent Associates, LLC
> http://www.emergentassociates.com
> _______________________________________________